Comment: I have had someone claim that in Virginia it was at one time
legal to beat your wife on the courthouse steps so long as it was after
hours and the victim didn't die. This law was supposedly enacted in the
40's or 50's because of a hanging judge who took out his frustrations on
his wife after work, his rulings were so loved by the legislature they
passed a general law to ensure he was never arrested but because they
couldn't name him specifically made it general to all males in the state.
The law is supposed to have been repealed after the judges death.

Why would the judge's wife hang around the courthouse steps after hours?

You'd think she'd be at their house or something, especially if he could beat her at work.

And while they weren't exactly progressive in that time period, I don't think spousal abuse was tolerated so openly that any legislature would pass such a law - maybe if you went back a 100 or more years in some small town that would sound more plausible.

This law was supposedly enacted in the 40's or 50's because of a hanging judge who took out his frustrations on his wife after work, his rulings were so loved by the legislature they passed a general law to ensure he was never arrested but because they couldn't name him specifically made it general to all males in the state.

Wouldn't this be the opposite of an ex post facto law? If you break the law, you don't automatically get off scot-free because a subsequent law makes your previously illegal act legal.